music maker volume control

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mironab
 
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music maker volume control

Post by mironab »

I am quite happy with the Music Maker shield. But the speaker volume is very anemic. I am using 3W 4-ohm speakers. The power supply for Arduino Uno provides 9V and 2000mA.

I understand that in the setVolume function, 0 is the loudest and 255 the minimum. But the sound for 0 is anemic and a setting of 40 is barely audible. Is this the expected behaviour?

Thanks,

Miron

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: music maker volume control

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Please post some photos showing your soldering and connections.

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mironab
 
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Re: music maker volume control

Post by mironab »

Photos of
- connections to the speaker terminals on the shield
- connections to one speaker
- connections to the other speaker

Note that the volume problem affects both speakers.
Attachments
speaker2-2.jpg
speaker2-2.jpg (844.06 KiB) Viewed 257 times
speaker1-2.jpg
speaker1-2.jpg (750.05 KiB) Viewed 257 times
shield connections-2.jpg
shield connections-2.jpg (868.12 KiB) Viewed 257 times

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: music maker volume control

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Please post a somewhat wider view. We need to see the whole shield.

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mironab
 
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Re: music maker volume control

Post by mironab »

The only things I added to the music maker shield are the headers and the speaker terminals.
The music shield is above the motor shield.
Attachments
shield-2.jpg
shield-2.jpg (934.96 KiB) Viewed 251 times

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: music maker volume control

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Try shorting the +6db jumper. You can do this temporarily by touching the two pads with the ends of a jumper wire.

Does the volume improve?

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mironab
 
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Re: music maker volume control

Post by mironab »

Yes, the volume does increase while shorting the jumper. But it also creates sound distorsions.
The music that I am playing is normalized.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: music maker volume control

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Are you running the speakers bare as in the photos? Without a baffle or enclosure, the sound waves from the back of the speaker will start to cancel out those from the front. The frequency response will roll off at 6db/octave at frequencies below a few KHz. And at 18db/octave below the resonant frequency of the cone. In other words, no bass.

Mounting your speakers in a larger panel, or a suitably sized box will improve the response considerably.

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mironab
 
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Re: music maker volume control

Post by mironab »

Thanks for your advice - it worked!

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Re: music maker volume control

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Great to hear. Thanks for the follow-up.

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